


Naming of Parts

by MrProphet



Category: Warhammer 40.000
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-24
Updated: 2014-03-24
Packaged: 2018-01-16 21:41:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1362667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrProphet/pseuds/MrProphet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Warhammer 40K is the property of Games Workshop. This is a reworking of Naming of Parts, the first section of Henry Reed's poem Lessons of the War.</p></blockquote>





	Naming of Parts

To-day we have naming of parts. Yesterday,   
We had daily cleaning. And to-morrow morning,   
We shall have what to do after firing. But to-day,   
To-day we have naming of parts. Brainleaf  
Coils like barbed wire in the jungle around us,   
And to-day we have naming of parts. 

This is the lower sling swivel. And this   
Is the upper sling swivel, whose use you will see,   
When you are given your slings. And this is the bayonet fixing,   
Which in your case you have not got. The branches   
Hold suffering souls in their rending grasp,   
Which in our case we have not got. 

This is the safety-catch, which is always released   
With an easy flick of the thumb. And please do not let me   
See anyone using his finger. You can do it quite easy   
If you have any strength in your thumb. The barking toads   
Are fragile and motionless, but lethally startled if  
Any of you use their finger. 

And this you can see is the slide. The purpose of this   
Is to open the breech, as you see. We can slide it   
Rapidly open and closed: we call this   
Easing the spring. And rapidly open and closed   
The flowers are assaulting and tearing the flesh:   
They call it easing the Spring. 

They call it easing the Spring: it is perfectly easy   
If you have any strength in your thumb: like the slide,   
And the breech, and the devil’s claw, and the Catachan fang,   
Which in our case we have not got; and the flying swamp mamba  
Silent through the heavy air and the flowers tearing at flesh,   
For to-day we have naming of parts.

**Author's Note:**

> Warhammer 40K is the property of Games Workshop. This is a reworking of Naming of Parts, the first section of Henry Reed's poem Lessons of the War.


End file.
